"Okobito Sodo" is the short story that helped launch Chinuo Yanagida's career as a writer of historical fiction. Taking a small disturbance from the past as its subject, it appears to depict tensions born from differences in status and position, the resilience of common people, and the atmosphere of its era.

This award-winning debut story brings people's positions and emotions into view through a disturbance in a corner of history.